Transition : Geoffrey Cannonmenace
Geoffrey Cannonmenace ; from Caribbean to Burning Seas Geoffrey returns... (for a short time). Geoffrey's return to the Caribbean, after his "fact finding mission", lasted but a short while. Armed with many facts he had learned on his journey, Geoffrey made berth at Raven's Cove and immediately sought an audience with his Guild Master, Kriss Wild Wolf. Laying out all the facts, providing evidence and proving much to Kriss, about a great many things, including the mysterious past of his fellow Assistant Guild Master, Cursed Charlie. This meeting also served for Geoffrey to voice his concerns, how he felt his prescence any longer would only serve to hold back Charlie, that he was not required to be constantly present and in the case of any emergency Tia Dalma would always be able to reach him. Renegade Explorer departs the Caribbean. Only a matter of weeks after his return, despite the constant pleas of both his Guild Master and fellow Assistant Guild Master, Geoffrey made his final decision to depart. Everything he laid claim to, he loaded aboard his Firestorm Frigate "Renegade Explorer" ; All his weapons, ammunitions, clothing, supplies and documents (about a great many things). Once he was packed and ready to depart, he waited... When the night was darkest and the moon obscured by cloud cover, Geoffrey proceeeded to light the fuses. The charges set, were aboard his War Frigate "Outlaw Explorer" and his Light Frigate "Fugitive Explorer", both ships had been positioned in the waters between Cuba and Devil's Anvil, the resulting explosion was of such magnitude, shockwaves were felt on Padres del Fuego. As his two ships went up in an almighty fireball, hundreds of Navy, East India Trading Company and Undead ships converged on the area, providing Geoffrey with the neccessary cover to slip into Uncharted Waters undetected. First port of call. Having scuttled both of his alternate ships, Geoffrey made haste for waters which only he and his First Mate knew well, waters of his First Mate's birth place, Jamaica. Ever since seeking out his Jamaican First Mate, also his tutor in knife handling, stealth and tracking, Geoffrey had called the Jamaican waters his second home and a safe haven for refuge. Sadly there was also another reason for his return to Jamaica, his First Mate upon learning of Geoffrey's intentions to leave the Caribbean for good, decided it was time for him to conclude his career of piracy and return home, so Geoffrey was also farewelling his one of his closest friends and his first appointed Officer. Geoffrey heeds the call of piracy. Always having been an active pirate, Geoffrey was ill accustomed to any life where he was not at sea plundering loot of all kinds. While he spent some time, something around two months, living with his First Mate and his family on Jamaica, the call of piracy beckoned him back to the sea. From Jamaica, Geoffrey sailed to Singapore, there he spent a considerable time looting and plundering anything and everything... even other pirates! Here it was that Geoffrey first learned of the impending arrival of a Spanish Treasure Convoy, an entire armada of Galleons loaded with Gold, Jewels and Spices returning to Spain from the Philippine's. Geoffrey of course could never resist such a temptation, despite being severely outnumbered, severely outgunned and severely outmanned, Geoffrey was determied to make this Treasure Convoy his own. So with his usual meticulous attention to detail, Geoffrey set about planning and preparing an ambush to string out and ultimately make this Convoy his own, a plan which was so audacious that even Kriss who by this time was hot on Geoffrey's heels, could not fathom it's intricacies. Fortune was to favor Geoffrey, as early in the morning of the Convoy's arrival there was an extroadinary fog, so thick a ship could barely see 100 yards in any direction, a perfect aide to Geoffrey's plan. Using the fog, Geoffrey was able to close quickly on his first target, drop several powder kegs beside it's rudder and slip away back into the fog without ever offering a shot. The effect was exactly as intended, the Galleons rudder was completely distroyed and it's hull sustained sufficient damage to force it to abandon the convoy, altering course to seek out the nearby sholls for repairs. With the first ship sufficiently disabled and the element of surprise exhausted, Geoffrey began his stealthy approach on the second ship, repeating the process and successfully eliminating a second ship. However, by the time he had run and prepared for his third run, the Galleons had altered formation, forming a sort of semi-circle with the ships, offering virtually no effective angle for approach. Not to be deterred, Geoffrey proceeded with his charge at the rear most ship, but not intending on the same tactic, but instead with a view to draw at least one, maybe two of the Galleons into persuit. Immediately his ship broke through the fog, he came under intense fire from the entire convoy, naturally with little time to react and aim, most shots missed his ship completely, those which hit were glancing blows and caused little damage. Closing within effective rage for Grapeshot, Geoffrey steered his Firestorm Frigate to pass the stern of the rear most ship, unloading two full volleys and all but decimating the Galleons crew. Having effectively crippled three of the convoy ships, Geoffrey set about luring away a couple of the Galleons, however the effect was not quite as anticipated, not only one or two Galleons begun persuit, but four Galleons made sail to chase him. While they were altering course, another three had loaded their cannons with Chain Shot and commenced firing on his sails, accuracy at such close range was quite dramatic with his foremast almost immediately destroyed, with a thunderous crack it snapped about a third of the way up and come crashing to the deck. Geoffrey's fortune beginning to falter a little, he did what what he always done best, ordering his Navigator to the wheel and immediately jumping on a cannon, Revenant Ram at the ready, he hammered home the first Fury Shell, quickly took aim and let rip. Reliable as always, his aim was true and his shot hit home about half way up the mizzen mast of the lead Galleon, shattering the timber and snapping the mast in two. Even before his first shot hit, Geoffrey already had the second shell on it's way, again his aim was true and the main mast of the second Galleon was struck, although the distance lessened the blow and although weakened the mast held. Quickly summarising the situation and realizing there would be no way he could defeat this convoy, apparently the captains chosen for this mission were far more skilled than most. Geoffrey set about making good his escape, turning windward to take advantage of his ships speed and barking orders to his crew to make quick repairs on the damaged mast. His new course wold lead him to the Cape of Good Hope, there he hoped he could lose the convoy amongst shallower waters, maybe even pick-off a Galleon or two. Running for life... With the advanced speed of his Firestorm Frigate, Geoffrey made excellent time to the Cape of Good Hope, the trip which should have taken him a good two solid days minimum, he completed in a little over two days. However the convoy in persuit was not to be deterred and the captains had lowered three sloops they had aboard into the water to harrass Geoffrey, using their minimal firepower, they were able to continually maintain within range and pepper the sails of Geoffrey's ship with Bar and Chain Shot. Realizing any attempt to lose the Sloops on the Sholls was futile, as was any attempt to out-maneuver, just one option remained, to attempt to outrun them and stretch enough distance between them and their convoy before trying to sink them with his superior firepower. This meant Geoffrey was stuck with a winward course which would ultimately bring him to the "Horn", a place no sailor would voluntarily choose to be, riddled with dangerous reefs and renowned for inclement weather for the time of year. A chance encounter. Approaching the "Horn", Geoffrey still had the three Sloops in hot persuit, making matters worse the weather had deteriorated, in the four and a half days between the Cape of New Hope and the "Horn" a storm had brewed and developed into a full scale Cyclone. Unfortunately for Geoffrey, the Cyclone was between him and the "Horn" and the Sloops showed no signs of abandoning the persuit, so he was left with two options. First he could stand and fight now, hoping the Galleons were already far enough behind, or alternatively he could attempt to sail around the "Horn" in the middle of a Cyclone. Well... Geoffrey weighed up his options and decided to make his run around the "Horn", even in the middle of a Cyclone! Naturaly, as his frigate entered the Cyclone, he spared a glance back to see the Galleons far off in the distance, they however were not alone, for there was another ship in their midst, a ship which was sailing in a familiar manner and trading broadsides with the whole convoy! With the appearance of this mystery ship, the Sloops chasing Geoffrey broke off their persuit and altered course to return and aid the Galleons. Thanking his good fortune at the arrival of this mysterious ship, Geoffrey doused canvas to allow the battle to close on his position for a better look. As the ships drew nearer his frigate, Geoffrey saw a solitary figure standing at the bow, the face he could swear was that of his Caribbean Curse co-Assistant Guild Master Cursed Charlie. The ship however was not the "Black Dragon" but the way it was being sailed caused Geoffrey to reminisce of his time in the Caribbean, memories of time spent aboard another ship, the "Moonraker Nemisis", but this was a different ship. Disaster Strikes! Although Geoffrey could swear the ship was being sailed EXACTLY as Sarah sailed, he still wasn't sticking around to let the convoy get within range to fire upon him, so he ordered his crew to hoist the canvas and barked out "Full bore and into the Abyss", aiming his bow straight for the eye of the Cyclone. Barely upon entering the Cyclone, it's sheer force tore apart both his main and mizzen masts, destroying them completely, his ship was tossed violently and was quickly slammed with tremendous foce upon an exposed reef shattering his rudder on impact. With minimal sails and without a rudder his ship was tossed about in the cyclone like a ragdoll, for several hours his crew battened down the hatches and prayed the ship held together long enough to survive the cyclone. When the Cyclone finally subsided, the "Renegade Explorer" was barely afloat, the Cyclone had claimed all her masts, her rudder was gone and there were more holes in the hull than a block of swiss cheese. Glancing over the side, Geoffrey could see that the only thing keeping his ship from sinking any further was the reef she'd come to rest upon, with the tide down but soon to rise, he and his crew had little time to escape. What few longboats that survived were lowered into the water and the order given to "abandon ship", his last act of defiance aboard Renegade Explorer, Geoffrey set a fuse to the powder magazine to be sure she would never be salvaged and fall into the wrong hands. TO THE BUNRING SEAS... With many of his crew killed in the Cyclone and his ship the Renegade Explorer no more, Geoffrey made his way up the Chile coast to a nearby settlement. There he received word from Tia Dalma that the Caribbean he loved had been overrun and pirates were fleeing in their droves, his mentour and Guild Master, Kriss had left some time earlier to find him and his departure had been profound with the balance shifting greatly and pirates losing their grasp on the region. Asking around, he learned that Kriss had settled in a new area known as the "Burning Seas", so arrangements were made and passage bartered to Marsh Harbour... The reunion was booked!